Safecracker Part 4 - Almost Caught
by the stargate time traveller
Summary: With the news, magic exists and there are people out there with plans for him, Harry has decided to hold off on his plans to leave Number 4. For the moment, but he continues to steal from the street. And why not? Unfortunately, paedophiles and stupid, abusive relatives make it tempting for him to escape still.
1. Chapter 1

Sorry, but I don't own Harry Potter. I just own this story and every other story I've written. That's it.

Please let me know what you think, and if you have any suggestions for potential burglaries for this version of Harry, please let me know and drop a review.

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Safecracker.

Almost Caught.

_It's funny, a few months ago I was planning on finally saying goodbye to this miserable part of the world. Now it looks like I'm going to have to stay here for a while longer; the trouble with knowing about this 'Wizarding World' is although I've got access to a source of knowledge about it, there is only so much I can actually glean from Auntie Petunia, so I'm going to have to stay here longer than I'd wanted, _Harry thought to himself as he walked down the street from school back to Privet Drive. He was following Dudley, whom he could pick out easily from a distance and he was also keeping watch in case of any wizarding activity (he wasn't sure if more wizards would come for him, but after that mess with the Death Eater, he wasn't going to take any chances.

In the last week since discovering that his abilities in hypnotism and breaking out of locked cupboards was down to magic and that he belonged to a hidden society of witches and wizards, Harry had been trying to work out what he was going to do with the knowledge of his true heritage. Yeah, he had slept on the matter and he'd decided to stay here for a little bit longer in case this Dumbledore guy had some way of tracking him down and returning him to Privet Drive and wiping his memory, although that was virtually impossible given he had left the notes he'd taken from Aunt Petunia in the cupboard under the stairs, and he had also written instructions for himself to hypnotise Aunt Petunia and ask her about her sister once more. Also included in the instructions were details about his magic and how to carry out certain tasks to make it work.

But he hoped it didn't come to that. It had been complicated learning how to hypnotise people, and he didn't really like the thought of having to relearn such a vital skill which was now an integral part of his repertoire, which was why he had written them in note form and he'd also written them into the walls of the cupboard itself in case anything happened to the papers.

But regardless of the risks in case Dumbledore returned him to Privet Drive, Harry didn't see why he should stop being a burglar; not only did he feel a rush of excitement in breaking into different people's houses, but at the same time if he was forced out onto the street then he would have a means of supporting himself.

He nodded to one of the people who lived close to Privet Drive, and he mentally sighed with relief when the woman smiled back in greeting. He was a long way from the actual neighbourhood he, unfortunately, lived in, so the people here were out of reach of the gossipers his aunt hung out with.

"Hey, kid."

Harry turned his head slowly and he found himself looking at a young man in his twenties leaning out of the window of his car as he drove it slowly along the road. Harry shook his head and continued walking; the Dursleys might not have given any thought at all about what happened to him. Hell, they wouldn't have actually cared one little bit, but at school, he had learnt about the dangers of walking with strangers or getting into cars with strange people. In any case, he didn't trust people full stop.

"Hey, don't be like that," the man said, driving his car forward so he could keep up with the boy, only convincing Harry, even more, this man wasn't the nice guy he was trying to portray himself as. "I just wanted to ask if you'd want to go to a party; my own son has few friends, and I want to make it a party to remember."

_A party for a son who doesn't exist? My god, does he truly think I'm stupid? Or gullible enough to think I'd fall for it? Dudley and his friends might fall for that, but even if this guy tried anything with them, he'd quickly regret it. He'd be put into a hospital before he even had a chance to do anything too serious. _

Harry glanced at the man, who was looking at him with an expression that, thanks to his limited experience, he couldn't identify although it reminded him of the greedy look Dudley always got into his eyes either when he saw something he wanted, or a table full of food. Harry didn't know what the man was actually thinking, but having someone looking at him in that manner was enough to make him sick.

Looking ahead his heart sank. There was a T junction ahead and Harry needed to cross the road so he could return to Number 4, but if he tried to cross the man who was stalking him in his car could swerve around and pick him up from there. Harry glanced at the man and tried to work out what he should do about this guy. There was no doubt in his mind this guy wanted him for something, but thanks to his lack of experience in the real world, Harry just didn't know what, but he knew the man was desperate for him to get into the car. If that happened he had no idea what would probably happen to him.

With that in mind, Harry walked over to the car, seeing the man's clear surprise that he actually stopped the car, before a smile of triumph spread across his face.

"Look into my eyes," Harry said, focusing his magic on the man.

The man's smiling visage faded and his expression turned blank.

"Why do you want me to get into your car?"

"I want to take photographs of you in the nude and then me and my friends can then have sex with you," the man said in a clear, emotionless voice.

_A perverted paedophile. I did wonder if he was that, but why is it the police are so useless they don't even properly try to look for people like this? _Harry thought to himself before a thought occurred to him. "You said friends, how many do you have who are perverts like you?" he asked.

"There are thirty of us."

_Thirty? No wonder kids like me are at risk. _"Not anymore. You are going to go to send all of the photographs of the kids and the names and addresses of your friends to the media. Repeat your instructions."

"I am going to send all the photographs of the kids and the names and addresses of my friends to the media."

"Yes," Harry replied while he thought about what could happen to this man. Personally he didn't really care, but still, he had to think of something that would be fitting. He had it. "You will send the photographs and the information of your associates to the media by using a second class stamp. You will do this at 9.00. After you have posted the letter, you will go to Station Road where you will sit on the railway bridge. At 9.04, you will jump off of the bridge. Do you know what is under the bridge?"

"Yes, a railway track."

"That is where you're wrong," Harry grinned as he became immersed in the fantasy he was concocting in his head. "It looks like a railway, but it is actually the gateway to another world. A world where your heart's desire lies. But you can only enter this world at a certain moment every day. You will let nothing and no-one interfere. Do you understand?" Harry paused as he forced his magic to drive the instruction into the man's mind. "You will let no-one stop you. When you get to the bridge, you will climb over the top and you will jump without hesitation. _Without any hesitation."_

"Without any hesitation," the man repeated.

XXX

Relieved to be free of the paedophile and not really caring about what he had hypnotically commanded the pervert to do, Harry carried on back to Number 4. He had needed to run after his cousin to make up for all the lost time, but once he was comfortable with the distance which meant when he returned to Privet Drive he wouldn't be locked out as he had been in the past, he slowed down.

Harry almost couldn't believe it. He had been so focused on his own problems with the Dursleys and the very real realisation if he left somebody powerful would just send him back to Number 4 he hadn't expected something as sick as a paedophile to come up to him. It left Harry feeling nervous and he looked around almost fearfully since he didn't know when the next attack would come. Harry was so nervous it took him a while to calm down, but it left him with a lesson he felt he could have done without.

_I already knew the world was dangerous; I thought at first the Dursleys were what made it dangerous, but now I know I'm some kind of saviour in a world I don't even know never mind remember, and now I know if I try to leave of my own free will I can be sent back here. That's bad enough, but now I know its not. Now some pervert wanted to do all sorts to me. I've got to learn how to defend myself. I have my magic, but I don't want to use it unless someone notices. I can practice how to use my magic, but at the same time, I want to know how to protect myself without needing to be reliant on my powers. _

But even as he thought that Harry was led to the conclusion he'd come to earlier. While he could presumably not leave Privet Drive by himself even if he had the means now since he'd probably be found and taken back since whatever was protecting him at Privet Drive from these Death Eater guys was being monitored by this Dumbledore bloke, Harry wondered if he could come up with a plan which would make the Dursleys willingly drop him in London somewhere, and leave him to fend for himself. In a way it was a similar plan Aunt Petunia had come up with, only it involved him as a young kid instead of someone older.

While the plan was attractive since he would be on his own without needing to look over his shoulder in Number 4 anymore, in London on his own he would be looking over his shoulder for a society he knew so little about no matter how much he'd gleaned from the Death Eater or his Aunt (he could have interrogated the Death Eater a little bit more in hindsight, since now he had more than a few questions he hadn't asked since he had been stunned by the existence of magic and the knowledge people out there wanted him dead or had abandoned him to live in Little Whinging, but in his Aunt's case there was a lot she knew and yet she knew nothing at all) there was still a great deal he didn't understand.

_So what do I do? _Harry thought desperately. He knew he only had a few more years before his letter from Hogwarts arrived, but when he walked into the school for the first time, he wanted to be prepared.

_Prepared for what? Well, I want to have a better handle on my magic. I want to know how to protect myself, both magically and non-magically; that one might be a problem. I also need to branch out a little with my crimes, maybe go for something big like a bank or a jewellery shop. But how do I do that? Hmm, I also need to gain criminal contacts as well; if I had a few of them I could possibly find someone willing to teach me how to fight either with a knife or even a gun. I don't like the thought of killing people, but I need to if it helps keep me alive for a few more days. But my mind keeps going back to the same problem, do I stay with the Dursleys, or do I go? _

As much as he hated to admit it, staying with the Dursleys would give Dumbledore the impression everything was well until Harry was ready. Also at the same time, he could survive for a little bit longer without these Death Eaters trying to kill him. The only downside was living with the Dursleys was tedious, and their abuse of him often got out of hand and it was one of the defining reasons why he wanted to leave in the first place.

But now…

Harry groaned, wishing he could make up his mind about what to do. His plan for escaping the Dursleys was no longer viable, but there were possibilities for manipulating them to-hold on a second, he realised with a shock as the light went off in his brain. His plan to manipulate the Dursleys…what if he flipped the idea over its head, and approached it a different way. He could hypnotise the Dursleys; his hypnosis of Aunt Petunia was proof of that, but if he could hypnotise the other Dursleys - Dudley and Vernon, since Marge's visits were frankly infrequent, although he had no problems with brainwashing her if he had no alternative - then he could make them do what he'd want within reason.

A nice little fantasy seeped into his brain, of finally getting the life of affection he'd wanted for years until he'd realised it would never happen, but now he had the power… No, it was a bad idea, he realised when he went over the possibilities. The Dursleys had already spread dozens of rumours about him over the years, it would certainly cause problems if they certainly changed, and if his theories about Dumbledore and his aunt being able to recite that line from a letter she had practically forgotten because she'd forced herself to forget it, then the wizard would find out and that would cause problems he couldn't even imagine right now, although he had no doubt that if he could manipulate the mind then others could have that power too.

No, if he manipulated the minds of the Dursleys, then he would need to be simple and subtle.

Harry decided to wait for a few days, do some research into what he could do. He had a burglary to commit tonight, and he would need to concentrate hard for it. In any case, he had felt he had plenty of time to think through his plan and look for different options to go with it.


	2. Chapter 2

Safecracker.

Walking through the streets so late at night towards the house he had chosen for this latest burglary, Harry couldn't help but breathe in and enjoy the night breeze. It was both liberating and enjoyable, and he hoped in the future he would enjoy more nights like this where he would just walk freely without anyone holding him prisoner.

In any case, the walk and the fresh air - as much as it was with the amount of pollution in the air allowed - allowed Harry the chance to continue thinking about what he was going to do.

Unfortunately, he hadn't made any progress with trying to figure out what he was going to do with the Dursleys; yes, he had planned on remaining in Privet Drive now he knew he had been purposefully dumped on that doorstep by an old wizard who clearly had designs on him and his life, and they were clearly not benign. Harry couldn't get out of his mind the part of the letter Aunt Petunia had read which had been left with him, the part she remembered with such terrifying clarity it made him wonder what other kinds of manipulation wizards were capable of.

Harry wasn't naive; if he could manipulate the minds of other people, so could others. And it was likely this Dumbledore had a proficiency that probably exceeded his own, and if that was the case then Harry would need to be very careful because he had only experienced manipulating the minds of people without magic, and he had no clue what to expect from such a person, although Harry planned at the earliest opportunity to get his hands on books about the relevant kind of magic so then he could ensure if Dumbledore _ever tried _to manipulate him the same way as he must have done with the Dursleys, he would know it and be immune to it at the same time.

But even thinking about the long term was hard since he was still having problems trying to decide what he was going to do with the Dursleys; he had no intention of leaving now he knew that if he did then it could only be a matter of time, likely days or barely even hours that could be counted on just the one hand before he was caught and sent back to the Dursleys, so what was the point of leaving? He was still stuck on what he should do with them in the long-term.

And as he walked towards the house he'd chosen to burgle, he decided to push it to the side and think about the burglary. Walking up the path Harry waved his hand over the lock, and he smirked for a second as his magic turned the key that was already in the lock and he stepped inside, but as he closed the door as silently as he could while waving his hand around to put everyone and anything asleep, it did occur to Harry he was becoming too dependent on his magic. Holding out his hand and willing a ball of magical light to appear in the palm, Harry knew that at this point he had little alternative since he didn't currently have the resources or the contacts to teach him the tricks of the trade.

He could pretend and say to himself that he had needed to place all of his immediate plans of escaping from the Dursleys and heading into London had been foiled thanks to the Death Eater incident and by interrogating Petunia who told him of Dumbledore and that extract in the letter left with him when Dumbledore had dropped him on the doorstep, but his primary problem was he didn't know just what kind of spells and enchantments the old wizard had placed on Number 4. Harry knew that he would be getting the Hogwarts letter when he turned eleven, so all he'd need to do was to wait and to continue what he was doing, and when he got into the Wizarding World then he would need to find ways of protecting himself from the old wizard. At the same time, he would need to study the old wizard, learn about him and what he could do so he could make plans on what to do from there.

And when he did…Harry hoped he could find other criminals or methods of breaking and entering which didn't use the slightest hint of magic to get in. While he loved his magic and the power it gave him, Harry knew the old saying's wisdom, _Never put all your eggs in the one basket _had a lot of truth. Harry was the type of guy who liked having contingencies, and while he was worried about what the Dursleys could and would do to him if they wanted to, he had the means and the power to escape at any moment, he didn't want to give Dumbledore any reason to track him done unless he felt there wasn't a good reason.

Yeah, he might have decreed the plan to escape Number 4 was no longer viable, but that didn't mean he couldn't keep it in the cards.

Harry sighed and pushed that aside while he searched the house while he used the ball of light in the palm of his hand to guide him through the house. He had discovered a delight in walking through the houses of different people and since he believed the people of Little Whinging deserved it, Harry felt no guilt whatsoever.

Vernon and Petunia believing he should, in their own words, _earn his keep _sold him as slave labour to the street. Okay, so some of the neighbours were nicer than others and were much kinder to him, but the fact they were willing accomplices to child slavery made it more deserving they get burgled in Harry's eyes.

This house belonged to one of those neighbours who were nice to him, and when Harry thought nice, he meant people who didn't immediately blame him for living. That was as far as it went, they didn't speak to him, they didn't look twice at him and see he was skin and bones. Why should he care if he was causing them pain by burgling them? In his eyes, this was justice.

Harry waved his free hand and summoned all the loose change and banknotes to him. The glittering shine of the coins as the light reflected off of the metal was like having the stars themselves in the living room. Harry dropped the bag on the floor and mentally directed the coins to fall into the bag. Once the final coin and note were in the bag, he stood up and went upstairs to the bedrooms. He knew from the times he had visited and worked at the house the family that lived here was actually quite big. Two parents, a daughter in her mid-teens, a boy over eleven years old or so, but he didn't give a damn about the age, and a younger girl.

He did the parents first. He opened the door to the bedroom and he flicked his hand, summoning whatever money and jewellery there was in the room. Once it was in the bag, he walked out of the room and into the elder daughters without bothering to close the drawers. Harry wasn't surprised when he caught the scent of perfume in the room, and his nose wrinkled in disgust before he stepped back; the last thing he wanted was for the Dursleys to catch a whiff of the ghastly scent otherwise they'd know what he'd been doing.

Harry once more held out his hand and mentally summoned all of the money and jewellery in the room. There was a lot more of it in this bedroom than there was in the parents' bedroom, but every little bit helped. The next two bedrooms didn't have much, although the boy had a bit more money which was a bonus, he summoned a small amount of change from the youngest daughter.

Once the bedrooms were finished with, Harry went downstairs and went through the house, looking for anything else he could take and sell at a later date. When he felt he had taken everything light enough to carry with him, Harry walked over to the bookcase and examined the books. The family who lived here weren't as illiterate seeming as the Dursleys. They loved books and had a decent collection, and he looked at each spine in turn.

He stuffed a few HG Wells and Jules Verne novels into his bag, and a few DH Lawrence novels, and a copy of Mary Shelley's _Frankenstein _before he walked out of the house but he left the front door slightly ajar. He grinned as he thought about the shrieks of anger and horror which would soon be coming from the family before he walked back to Privet Drive.

XXX

As was the custom, Harry woke up before everyone else. He used the opportunity to count the money he had collected from the night before, and since it would be some time before the Dursleys woke up. He counted over £350 in note form, and from the coins he counted another £30, ignoring the jewellery for the time being. He just stuffed it in the hiding places where he had placed all the jewellery.

He looked up, blinking in the harsh electrical light when he heard something from upstairs. Harry sighed when he heard the heavy footfalls which he knew belonged to Vernon. He sat still, like an animal trying to keep itself still so a predator wouldn't attack, waiting. His tense shoulders lost all of their tension when he heard the fat man upstairs open and slam the door to the bathroom. Harry breathed a sigh of relief and he placed the jewellery and the money away while he moved awkwardly around the cupboard.

"Oh, I can't wait to leave this dump," he muttered to himself, gasping with pain when he bumped his head again.

"SHUT UP, BOY!"

Harry stilled in surprise. He hadn't expected Vernon to have heard that, and he wondered if the fat bastard was only saying that to deliberately get him into trouble rather than actually hearing him. After a few moments, and no sign of Vernon rushing down the stairs to open the door to punishing him for something he hadn't actually done, Harry relaxed a little although he knew better than to truly relax since one slip-up could mean a world of hurt.

XXX

It never failed to amaze him; here he was, an unlikely burglar since the Dursleys were so certain that they had managed to control him, locking him in the cupboard whenever he wasn't either at school or doing one of those chores, and yet he was still going about his daily routine as if nothing had happened even if he was still shaken from the thrill and the adrenaline rush.

The news of the burglary had shaken the community, especially since it was one of a long line of similar break-ins in Little Whinging. The police had openly stated they would soon find the burglar, and bring him to justice. Harry wondered if they were only saying that to save face since he always took precautions to ensure they could not find any trace of him. He always used his magic to make sure everyone and everything inside the home was asleep so they wouldn't be in any position to do anything about him, and he always made sure to use his magic to stop anyone from seeing him in the streets.

As he walked back to Number 4, Harry noticed the police car outside the house he'd burgled just last night. He was a little surprised they were still there, but judging from the look of boredom on the face of the police constable standing on the doorstep it wasn't to do with the investigation. That policeman looked like he had been there for hours, perhaps all day.

Well, it was somebody else's problem. It wasn't Harry's. He just kept walking back to the house, ignoring the people he came across. But he overheard a few of the gossipy housewives whose own lives were so dull, mundane and pointless yakking on and on about the burglary. Some of them were Harry's victims of burglaries past.

_Don't worry, _he thought to himself as he mentally listed some of the families he hadn't yet stolen from yet. _I haven't started yet…_

A sigh escaped his lips. He had hoped to have gotten away from the Dursleys before now, but since he was going to have to stay here for a little bit longer, he would need to continue carrying out the burglaries. It was simply common sense. He had no idea if the Dursleys would try something, after all, but he would need to be ready.

_Still, there's so much to do, but the rewards will be worth it in the long term. Maybe I'll move from Britain after I've explored and plundered it, _he thought to himself, _but where will I go? Ah, so many possibilities…_

While he was still dreaming wistfully of his life and future away from Privet Drive, Harry still kept his eyes open. Dudley had made a bit of noise today with 'Harry Hunting,' but Harry had managed to escape. The last thing he wanted was for a game here, he wouldn't get any sanctuary anywhere.

As he approached the front door and wondering to himself when his obese pig bastard of a cousin would finally grow up and stop playing the stupid game - the thought of Dudley still delighting in it even as an adult was pathetic, but it would keep with everything Dudley was essentially; a stunted, childish, fat pig - Harry wondered what new horrors awaited him. But as he opened the door…only to be greeted by his Aunt's pinched expression, which she always wore whenever she saw him.

"Well, what are you waiting for, Boy? Get inside!"

Harry didn't say a word as he walked inside the house. The rest of the evening went by as usual; the Dursleys were still their usual selves, well at least Dudley and Petunia were; Vernon didn't come back until late, so around nine o clock. When the fat man returned, he was tired and irritable. The moment Harry saw his expression, he quickly realised Vernon had attended one of the meetings with the rest of the senior staff of the drilling company he was a part of. Once every month or so, Grunnings went through a monthly audit, and there were meetings Vernon had to sit in for hours, and they were enough to put him in a bad mood, and even Harry with his new mindset and skills did not want to get on the wrong side of his 'uncle.' No chance.

He also knew he would need to be careful since Dudley loved this time of the month since it meant his father would be even more inclined to beat him, Harry up.

Harry sighed as he continued working in the kitchen, hoping that he could reach the sanctuary of the cupboard without Dudley getting him into trouble. And then it struck him, he could cast a mild spell to stop the Dursleys noticing him-

He was snapped out of his thoughts when he heard a yell. "BOY! WHERE IS MY SON'S SCHOOL BAG?!"

_Dudley, you bastard!_

Harry walked to the kitchen door and he found his uncle standing by his cupboard door. Harry inwardly flinched when he saw the look in his uncle's eyes and the purple hue of his face.

"I don't know," he answered truthfully, but he knew whatever Dudley had done it would not end well. But what worried him the most was the fact his 'uncle' was standing dangerously close to the cupboard door. The Dursleys never opened the door and searched the contents since they were content to leave him to live in his own filth, believing a freak like him deserved it. But Harry knew if they performed a proper search they would find his loot, and that was the last thing he wanted.

"Don't give me that, you ungrateful brat!" Vernon shouted while Dudley looked on gleefully. "You live here thanks to us taking your worthless, freakish arse off of the streets after your layabout parents got themselves killed! You repay us by taking my son's school bag when you should be grateful we've given you food and clothing to wear!"

Harry stiffened with anger. He didn't know what to feel about his parents, but he wasn't going to take that. He clenched his fists. "Grateful?" he hissed, lacing his words with magic so then the Dursleys were terrified. "Grateful because you're beating me up every single chance you get? Food? Don't make me laugh, you only give me enough to live. That's it!"

Harry waved his hand when he saw Vernon start to walk towards him, and Vernon found himself rooted to the ground. "What you doing, how did you do that, you freak!"

Harry's smile was predatory. "Why, I used my _magic, _my dear uncle!"

Vernon and Petunia shared a shocked, horrified look.

"Yeah, I know the truth," Harry smiled viciously at the Dursleys, although inwardly he knew he was going to have to wipe their memories so they didn't remember what happened here tonight, he didn't know if Dumbledore would pick up on what was going on, but the fewer clues he handed to the old wizard, the better. "I know I am a wizard."

He held up his hand and he concentrated before a ball of bright light appeared in the boy's palm.

The effect it had on the Dursleys was immediate.

"STOP THAT!" Petunia shrieked.

"I'LL KILL YOU FOR THIS, BOY!" Vernon roared.

"Stay where you are!" Harry's magically laced voice shut them up instantly. "You are not going to kill me. In fact, after tonight, you will not remember this at all."

Dudley laughed scornfully. "What are you talking about, freak!"

Harry smiled. "You'll find out in a moment, Dudley," he replied cryptically; he didn't know if they would try to put up a fight if he tried to manipulate their minds and their memories when he got to work, but the fewer clues he gave them about their capabilities, the better.

"Wait a moment," Petunia gasped. "It was you, wasn't it? You're the one who's been committing these burglaries."

Harry turned to her in surprise although he knew he shouldn't be completely surprised since this revelation of his power and his knowledge of it would have given her enough clues about the current events since it was common knowledge the burglar was getting in without anyone seeing him or even leaving any trace of forced entry.

"Very good. You are showing signs of intelligence, but I'm afraid its time for you to forget everything…."

Harry waved his hand at the three Dursleys, and he sighed mentally as he got to work. He knew however he was going to need to take precautions against this in future, but he was just relieved they hadn't opened the cupboard. He had done what he had felt was best to keep his stash safe and secure.

But he knew he would need to work on a better plan for the future.


End file.
